The Taliban followed up two deadly attacks in Kabul earlier last week with a series of bombings, assaults, and suicide attacks in the capital and four provinces over the weekend. Twelve de-mining personnel, 11 Afghan soldiers and police, two Coalition troops, and a Supreme Court official are among those killed.

In Helmand, the Taliban gunned down 12 workers who were clearing land mines. According to TOLONews, the de-miners were based out of Camp Bastion, which was turned over from Coalition to Afghan control at the end of October. By the end of November, the Taliban attacked the base, penetrated the perimeter, and fought Afghan forces for nearly four days before being defeated.

Also today, Afghan Taliban fighters backed by units from the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, “launched [a] coordinated attack on security forces check posts” in the district of Dangam in Kunar province, Khaama Press reported. Afghan officials claimed that eight Taliban fighters were killed, while the Taliban claimed three Afghan soldiers were killed in the fighting.

The clashes over the weekend were preceded by two Taliban suicide attacks in Kabul on Dec. 11. In one of the attacks, a suicide bomber killed six Afghan soldiers as they rode on a bus. In the other, a teenage Taliban fighter purportedly detonated an underwear bomb at a French-run high school in the capital, killing a German citizen. The bombing took place during the performance of a play that criticized suicide attacks.

The Taliban have increased offensive operations in Kabul and the provinces as the US and NATO are ending the combat mission in Afghanistan. The rise in violence has forced the US to change the rules of engagement for next year and allow forces to conduct combat missions, as well as keep an additional 1,000 troops in country (10,800 troops will remain in Afghanistan as opposed to the planned 9,800).

As the US and allied countries withdraw their forces, the Afghan National Security Forces have taken the brunt of the casualties. This year, Afghan forces have suffered the highest casualty rates since the war began in 2001. As of Nov. 5, “4,634 Afghan security forces were killed in action this year, up from 4,350 last year,” USA Today reported, based on a briefing by Lieutenant General Joseph Anderson. The number of wounded personnel and those who have gone AWOL, or absent without leave, was not disclosed. Anderson said the high casualty rate for the Afghan security forces “is not sustainable.”

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of The Long War Journal.

4 Comments

Yep we lost this war. The only way to prevent it from happening again is to fire all the Generals for failing to win and completely overhaul the way our officers are selected and deployed. No more one year tours bullshit. We send troops to occupy a foreign land, we have to essentially exile them there for life, they must then marry local girls, start local families, and buy local goods.
Otherwise don’t send troops at all, nuke the place and have done. Its what nukes are for otherwise why bother having them.

What’s happening now was bound to happen because from the outset this war was being fought in the wrong place against the wrong people. The root cause of the problem in Afghanistan was and still continue to be Pakistan, not Afghanistan. As the NATO and US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan come to an end Pakistan is hurriedly cleaning up its backyard and at the same time it is intensifying cross border acts of terrorism both in India and Afghanistan using what it often calls “non state actors” who actually are being trained, armed and funded by Pakistan itself. If things continue to go the way they are going I can say with guarantee that the US will have to return to this region but for something bigger than 9/11.

Hey Tom, are really serious?
You look like a guy who have seen too many movies..
Go there, do their job and please try to understand the problem.. You can’t nuke a country just like that are you out of your mind?
I was there in 2009 in Kandahar district and 99.99% of people are good why would you kill them all?